Global Women's Health Shouldn't Be a Casualty of U.S. Culture Wars

Global Women's Health Shouldn't Be a Casualty of U.S. Culture Wars

During the past few years, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have been a broken record of recurring attacks on international family planning funding and policy. Between attempts to reinstate the harmful Global Gag Rule and proposing drastic cuts to family planning funding, these politicians seem bent on undermining women’s health and rights. But this anti-woman stance is not just dangerous ideology; it has real consequences for women around the world. That’s the subject of a new op-ed by our Director of U.S. Government Relations Craig Lasher that appeared today in the Guardian.

Here’s an excerpt:

“The fact is that family planning saves women’s lives. But in Washington these days, the facts do not matter. Last week Republicans on the House spending committee imposed a completely unnecessary cap on international family planning funding.

The House committee bill proposes cutting international family planning funding by $149m, almost 25% from current levels. Using analysis from the Guttmacher Institute, this would result in more than 7.7 million fewer couples using contraception, more than 1.6 million additional unintended pregnancies, and 745,000 more abortions. Almost 3,000 more women would die in pregnancy or childbirth, and 13,400 more children would lose their mothers. So much for family values.”